Be very careful with the Teflon grease. I used teflon flax and the grease for two season on one of my boats. Towards the end of the second season my stuffing box was running very, very hot. When I took her out of the water, and took apart the stuffing box I noticed a mass of teflon grease and teflon flax residue clogging my shaft log between the shaft and the inside of the bronze stuffing box! The spinning of the shaft & tightening of the gland nut had squeezed & spun a coating of the teflon grease onto the inside of the stuffing box log until it built up enough to slow the cooling water flow to next to nothing! The water that did drip out was boiling hot because not enough cool water could flow around the shaft. Stuffing boxes were never designed to have grease in them and the cheap teflon flax (imitation Gore GFO) with the grease is a band aid approach at minimizing water ingress. I learned the hard way on this one as I had to pull my shaft to fully clean out the stuffing box. I actually figured while I had the shaft out to put in a PSS and love it!! No water, simple and easy!

If you want a good flax for a traditional stufing box buy the Gore GFO packing it does not require a grease like the cheap Gore knock off flaxes do and when adjusted properly it drips very minimally compared to other flaxes.

In contrast to what others above have said about GFO it is NOT deisgned to be entirely drip free. Even the GFO instructions do not say it's drip free. You can however adjust it to get less dripping than you can with the imitation GFO packings. GFO takes considerably less water to cool it than the West marine Teflon flaxes do but it IS designed to drip slightly when the shaft is spinning. Mine was dry when the shaft was stopped but dripped a little when spinning and did not get to hot.

In contrast to what others above have said about GFO it is NOT deisgned to be entirely drip free. Even the GFO instructions do not say it's drip free. You can however adjust it to get less dripping than you can with the imitation GFO packings. GFO takes considerably less water to cool it than the West marine Teflon flaxes do but it IS designed to drip slightly when the shaft is spinning. Mine was dry when the shaft was stopped but dripped a little when spinning and did not get to hot.

I went back to the Gore-tex site to make sure I wasn't spreading false information about the "dripless" reputation for this product. Here is some verbiage from the site:

Bilges stay dry Since GFO fiber dripless packing is four times more thermally conductive than flax, it needs virtually no sea water for lubrication or cooling. And, because it doesn't swell or shrink, leakage is controlled and kept to an absolute minimum. In fact, you'll notice that your bilge is dry and cleaner, because this remarkable packing hardly ever drips. It's so conformable and flexible that it will solve most perpetual problem leakers, too. Won't damage shafts GFO fiber packing has minimal thermal expansion and high abrasion resistance — it never gets hard and abrasive, even when mud or sand-laden water gets into the stuffing box. So extensive shaft scoring and premature packing failure are things of the past. And, this packing can withstand high shaft speeds without being consumed or destroyed.

The link to the site is www.e-marine-inc.com. Check it out and draw your own conclusions. It's a very cost effective solution to the problem.

I'll look at that for the next pack job, but for now... I have water at the gland, I pulled the hose clamps to see then promptly drove a hose wire into my palm. How much blood is bad for a bilge? :-) So with the compression end off and moving the gland, still no water. if I had over tightened it originaly then backed it off, it should have worked loose by now? Crap, time to buy a packing tool I guess and start pulling it back out.

You shouldn't have to mess with the clamps on the stern tube at all. If you totally unscrew the compression nut and push it up the shaft into the boat, there ought to be water coming in. The "flax" is inside that nut anyway, so at that point it shouldn't be a factor. If there is no water then, take a screwdriver and stick it out around thethe shaft itself where it goes into the stern tube to clean out any blockage that may be there. If that doesn't produce some water, then you do have something bizarre going on!

As for removing the packing from inside the nut, a small screwdriver will do the trick if you don't have one of the curly thingees. Scrape inside the nut and the stuff will come out.

The hose clamps were the ones on the gland side not the stern tube side and yes, plenty of water. Thou I did notice that the stern tube side has some drips today. Cripes, wrong end driping. Sounds like a medical problem.
It HAS to be too much grease or too much packing but it's only four wraps?

I just re-read the GFO instructions and even Gore does not call it dripless, at least in the installation instructions, and to work correctly it SHOULD have some leakage. I guess I never actually read the directions and assumed it was dripless. It's no wonder it got hot when I stopped the driping of my GFO packing and ruined my shaft...

The directions below are straight from the packaging that comes with the Gore GFO packing. Note that it does NOT say it is dripless but to adjust the packing to your desired LEAKAGE! If a web site that sells marine supplies is telling you it's dripless they most likely are saying it drips less and not that it is dripless. Gore is great stuff, and by far the best of the traditional style packing flaxes, but it should not be run totally dry. You will eventually ruin your shaft if you run it bone dry. I have my old shaft in the basement that is proof positive GFO, if adjusted to NOT leak slightly, will damage a shaft..

Marine Instructions:

"AFTER THE LAST RING IS INSTALLED, take up bolts finger tight. Do not jam the packing
into place by excessive gland loading. Make sure gland bolts are taken up evenly. STOPPING
LEAKAGE ENTIRELY AT THIS POINT WILL CAUSE THE PACKING TO BURN UP. Run
the vessel for 5-10 hours and readjust packing to get desired leakage."

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